[ONEIROLOGY - DREAM INTERPRETATION] تعطير الأنام في تعبير المنام / منتخب الكلام في تفسير الأحلام [i.e., The perfuming of mankind in the interpretation of dreams / [Intertwined with] Selected discourses on the interpretation of dreams]

AL-NÂBULUSÎ, 'ABD AL-GHANÎ (1641-1731), IBN SÎRÎN, MUHAMMAD (653-729).

Al-Matba‘a al-Azhariyya, Cairo, 1306 AH [CE 1888/89].

Complete title: [ONEIROLOGY - DREAM INTERPRETATION] تعطير الأنام في تعبير المنام / منتخب الكلام في تفسير الأحلام / Ta'tîr al-anâm fî ta'bîr al-manâm / Muntakhab al-kalâm fî tafsîr al-ahlâm [i.e., The perfuming of mankind in the interpretation of dreams / [Intertwined with] Selected discourses on the interpretation of dreams].

Contemporary quarter dark brown calf over marbled paper-covered boards. Stated second edition. 4to (27.5 × 19.5 cm). In Arabic. Two-volume set: ([2], 327, [1] p.; 362 p.). The main text within double rules, with the Muntakhab printed throughout as marginal text surrounding the principal text. Bindings rubbed and worn, with some surface loss to the leather, particularly at the extremities and corners; boards rubbed and scuffed. Light age-toning to the pages and edges. Two old tape repairs; one endpaper lacking and another torn, with approximately half remaining. Otherwise, a very good set.

An early letterpress Cairo edition (second in the printinghouse), of al-Nâbulusî's celebrated work on oneirology and dream interpretation, Ta‘tîr, intertwined throughout with Muntakhab, traditionally attributed to the early Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn Sîrîn, the latter printed as marginal text surrounding al-Nâbulusî's principal work.

The Damascene Sufi scholar 'Abd al-Ghanî al-Nâbulusî was a prolific author whose writings encompassed Sufism, theology, jurisprudence, travel, poetry, and other subjects. His Ta'tîr is one of the major encyclopaedic compilations of the later Islamic oneirocritical tradition, and one of the principal early modern syntheses of the medieval Arabic literature on dream interpretation. Drawing upon earlier authorities and traditions, al-Nābulusī assembled an extensive repertory of dream symbols, arranged alphabetically and encompassing persons, animals, objects, actions, places, and circumstances, with interpretations that could vary according to the condition and circumstances of the dreamer.

The Muntakhab is one of the most widely circulated works associated with Muhammad ibn Sîrîn, the early Muslim scholar of Basrah whose name became particularly associated with the interpretation of dreams. Numerous oneirological traditions and texts subsequently circulated under his name. Although the attribution of the Muntakhab to Ibn Sîrîn is not generally accepted, the work became closely associated with him and enjoyed a long transmission in both manuscript and print.

The two works are intertwined throughout and presented simultaneously on each page, al-Nâbulusî's Ta‘tîr forming the framed main text and the Muntakhab running around it as marginal text. Al-Nâbulusî's systematic early-modern compilation and the much older body of dream interpretation transmitted under the name of Ibn Sîrîn.

Bibliography: Cf. al-Muʿjam al-shāmil lil-turāth al-ʿArabī al-maṭbūʿ, Cairo, 1993, vol. III, pp. 247-248, recording the Muntakhab al-kalām as printed in the margins of al-Nābulusī's Ta‘tīr al-anām and listing Cairo editions dated 1304, 1305, 1306, 1307, and 1316 AH.; Ahmet Özel, “Nablusî, Abdülganî b. İsmâil,” TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, no. 32, recording Ta‘tīr al-anām fī ta‘bīr al-manām as al-Nābulusī's best-known work among the general public, and listing numerous editions, including the present two-volume Cairo edition of 1306 AH; TDVIA, s.v. “İbn Sîrîn,” recording the Muntakhab al-kalām fī tafsīr al-aḥlām in editions issued together with al-Nābulusī's Ta‘tīr al-anām, including Cairo 1306 AH.; OCLC locates no copies of the present edition; an Istanbul edition published in the same year is recorded.